US and G-7 allies have decided to ban gold imports from Russia in order to further isolate the nation economically. As per US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this embargo will cost President Vladimir Putin almost $19 billion in annual revenue.
On the first day of the Summit, the United States along with Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, UK and the European Union discussed the plan to officially tackle the economic effects of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN, Blinken revealed that the G7 leaders are taking aim at Russian economy and have targeted one of its biggest export, gold. Predicting that the effects will be visible by 2023, he said that Putin will have to endure the loss of nearly $19 billion of revenue per year.
As their previous efforts were in vain, US and UK are confident that this embargo will surely disrupt Moscow's economy. Elaborating on the impact of the sanctions imposed by the West back in March, that did not have much effect on the Russian economy, Blinken said that the situation is different now.
He went on to claim that Moscow appears to be falling short to procure what is needed to streamline its defense sector and modernize its technology simultaneously doing the same for energy exploration, RT reported.
Repeating the same figures mentioned by the US president earlier this month, Blinken stated that as per predictions of experts, which he did not name, Moscow's economy will decrease by 8 to 15 per cent in 2023.
President Joe Biden believes that this decision will inflict "unprecedented costs" on Russia and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees that it will "strike at the heart" of Moscow's war machine.
There has been no official announcement on whether the rest of the G7 members have given their approval to the ban yet.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the union will have to first predict the after effects of the decision and thoroughly examine them in order to make sure that the plan does not backfire.
Even after the embargo is imposed Putin will still have two options. The first will be to sell gold to refiners and the second will be to seek new buyers in China, India, or the Middle East.
